History LighterAndSofter / MarvelUniverse

** Nearly all post ''Alias'' comics are this for Jess. The ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', ''ComicBook/TheDefenders2017'' and ''Jessica Jones (2018)'' while still pretty dark in places are significantly more upbeat compared to what Jess has gone through in her debut series, having moved on from her past trauma and taken a new lease on life.

* ComicBook/SpiderMan, ComicBook/TheAvengers, ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/TheIncredibleHulk, and ComicBook/IronMan all have kid-friendly, self-contained stories in the ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'' line. In ''Marvel Adventures'', the heroes tend to be friends, everything works out predictably, and there are a few meta comments on the storylines in the "main" series.

* ''ComicBook/SpideySuperStories'', a Marvel book for the younger set, inexplicably [[http://notthebeastmaster.typepad.com/weblog/2004/03/hey_kids_death.html featured Thanos]] at one point. Yes, the ComicBook/{{Thanos}} with a hard-on for Death, the one who killed half of everyone in the universe in an attempt to impress her. In a book for little kids. They must have just made him into a big purple guy. [[http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2010/06/14/i-lova-ya-but-youre-strange-2/ He has a helicopter with his name on it. And he gets arrested by the police in the end. It's awesome.]]
* ''ComicBook/IronManNoir'' by Creator/ScottSnyder is this compared to the rest of the comics in the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' universe. While ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir'', ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'', ''ComicBook/DaredevilNoir'', ''ComicBook/LukeCageNoir'' and ''ComicBook/WolverineNoir'' deal out loads of AdaptationalVillainy to characters, have ThouShallNotKill characters use guns and kill people and generally have the DarkerAndEdgier-ness dialed up to eleven; ''Iron Man Noir'' in comparison is considerably more lighthearted being tonally closer to ''Film/TheRocketeer''. Instead of being stuck in the WretchedHive that is New York like other ''Noir'' universe comics, ''Iron Man Noir'' has globe trotting adventures filled with much more optimism, though this makes the comic [[NeverTrustATitle more]] [[TwoFistedTales Pulp]] than FilmNoir. It's especially lampshaded when Baron Strucker is [[HopeCrusher deriding]] a [[DamselInDistress captured Pepper]] for clinging to the hope that Tony will save her, saying while holding the skull of Thor that "[[TemptingFate they don't live in a world of Marvels]]" and no knight in shining armor is coming to save her - just as [[InstantlyProvenWrong Tony and Rhodey fly into the Nazi castle]] in PoweredArmour [[BigDamnHeroes to rescue Pepper]].
* The original 1980s version of ''ComicBook/PowerPack'', while not nearly as angsty as Marvel's other works, took itself seriously and attempted to be a serious, but not ''as'' serious as usual, comic about {{kid hero}}es, with a fair amount of characterization, intelligent plots, and good quality storytelling. It actually tries to realistically portray what children who find themselves with superpowers might actually go through, but still falls short of stereotypical comic angst. The 2000s remake is aimed squarely at a quite young audience and has much cuter art and simpler storytelling.
* ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' is a Lighter And Softer continuation of ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'' that while is still serious and grim in places, also has Spider-Man, J.Jonah Jameson and other more lighthearted MU characters and aesthetics brightening up the previously extremely gritty and edgy journey of ComicBook/JessicaJones and ComicBook/LukeCage. Jess also gives birth to her daughter Danielle bringing more happiness into her life, most of which she's spent as a BrokenBird, not to mention Luke and Jess's love life being portrayed as far less rough as it infamously was in ''Alias''.
** Nearly all post ''Alias'' comics are this for Jess. The ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', ''ComicBook/TheDefenders2017'' and ''Jessica Jones (2018)'' while still pretty dark in places are significantly more upbeat compared what Jess has gone through in her debut series, having moved on from her past trauma and taken a new lease on life.
* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] in ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' when Morlun drops in on the ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAndHisAmazingFriends'' universe. He notes that the universe is much lighter than the other ones he's been to. So light that [[spoiler:that universe's Spider-Man cannot describe the fact that ''Morlun just massacred the Spider-Friends and he's next''.]]

* ''ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge'' (starting with ''ComicBook/HouseAndPowersOfX''), while dark, violent and thematically menacing and creepy in places, in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe is the biggest LighterAndSofter turn for the ComicBook/XMen ever. Compared to the previous big storylines such as ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'', ''Apocalypse: The Twelve'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''Messiah Complex'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' and ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' which killed loads of characters for shocks, had many characters pick up the ConflictBall, turn evil and generally empathised FailureIsTheOnlyOption and had near or complete genocide of mutantkind (before StatusQuoIsGod reverts everything), ''House of X'' is leaps and bounds more lighthearted. All (and we do mean '''ALL''') {{Mutants}} come together on [[GeniusLoci Krakoa]] which is now a {{Utopia}} for their kind, separate from the human world and putting their past differences aside to try and build a better outcome for their race, and thanks to the new Phoenix Five led by ComicBook/HopeSummers most mutants can be resurrected from death. Oh and Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean put their famously bitter LoveTriangle to bed, having a three-way polymerous relationship.

* ''Franchise/{{Daredevil}}'' spent decades being defined by just how much Matt Murdock suffers, something that Creator/MarkWaid decided to address for [[ComicBook/DaredevilMarkWaid his run on the character]]. While it's still pretty macabre and doesn't outright deny the darkness or trauma in Matt's life, the series is much more idealistic, with its title character [[TookALevelInCheerfulness making a vested effort to grow past his demons and accept happiness]], making his stories more in line with swashbuckling adventures [[RevisitingTheRoots that the character very originally started with]].

* ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' is a Lighter And Softer continuation of ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'' that while is still serious and grim in places, also has Franchise/SpiderMan, J.Jonah Jameson and other more lighthearted MU characters and aesthetics brightening up the previously extremely gritty and edgy journey of ComicBook/JessicaJones and ComicBook/LukeCage. Jess also gives birth to her daughter Danielle bringing more happiness into her life, most of which she's spent as a BrokenBird, not to mention Luke and Jess's love life being portrayed as far less rough as it infamously was in ''Alias''.

* ''ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge'' starting with ''ComicBook/HouseOfX'' and ''ComicBook/PowersOfX'' while dark, violent and thematically menacing and creepy in places, in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe is the biggest LighterAndSofter turn for the ComicBook/XMen ever. Compared to the previous big storylines such as ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'', ''Apocalypse: The Twelve'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''Messiah Complex'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' and ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' which killed loads of characters for shocks, had many characters pick up the ConflictBall, turn evil and generally empathised FailureIsTheOnlyOption and had near or complete genocide of mutantkind (before StatusQuoIsGod reverts everything), ''House of X'' is leaps and bounds more lighthearted. All (and we do mean '''ALL''') {{Mutants}} come together on [[GeniusLoci Krakoa]] which is now a {{Utopia}} for their kind, separate from the human world and putting their past differences aside to try and build a better outcome for their race, and thanks to the new Phoenix Five led by ComicBook/HopeSummers most mutants can be resurrected from death. Oh and Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean put their famously bitter LoveTriangle to bed, having a three-way polymerous relationship.

* ''Franchise/{{Daredevil}}'' spent decades being defined by [[HurtingHero just how much Matt Murdock suffers]], something that Creator/MarkWaid decided to address for [[ComicBook/DaredevilMarkWaid his run on the character]]. While it's still pretty macabre and doesn't outright deny the darkness or trauma in Matt's life, the series is much more idealistic, with its title character [[TookALevelInCheerfulness making a vested effort to grow past his demons and accept happiness]], making his stories more in line with swashbuckling adventures [[RevisitingTheRoots that the character very originally started with]].

** Granted DarkerAndEdgier storylines such as ''ComicBook/XOfSwords'' and ''ComicBook/XMenTheTrialOfMagneto'' do come in later on, but regardless life has ''never'' once been so genuinely hopeful and happy for the X-Men and mutants before in Marvel history.

* Franchise/SpiderMan, ComicBook/TheAvengers, ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/IncredibleHulk, and ComicBook/IronMan all have kid-friendly, self-contained stories in the ''ComicBook/MarvelAdventures'' line. In ''Marvel Adventures'', the heroes tend to be friends, everything works out predictably, and there are a few meta comments on the storylines in the "main" series.

* ''ComicBook/IronManNoir'' by Creator/ScottSnyder is this compared to the rest of the comics in the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' universe. While ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir'', ''ComicBook/XMenNoir'', ''ComicBook/DaredevilNoir'', ''ComicBook/LukeCageNoir'' and ''ComicBook/WolverineNoir'' deal out loads of AdaptationalVillainy to characters, have ThouShallNotKill characters use guns and kill people and generally have the DarkerAndEdgier-ness dialed UpToEleven; ''Iron Man Noir'' in comparison is considerably more lighthearted being tonally closer to ''Film/TheRocketeer''. Instead of being stuck in the WretchedHive that is New York like other ''Noir'' universe comics, ''Iron Man Noir'' has globe trotting adventures filled with much more optimism, though this makes the comic [[NeverTrustATitle more]] [[TwoFistedTales Pulp]] than FilmNoir. It's especially lampshaded when Baron Strucker is [[HopeCrusher deriding]] a [[DamselInDistress captured Pepper]] for clinging to the hope that Tony will save her, saying while holding the skull of Thor that "[[TemptingFate they don't live in a world of Marvels]]" and no knight in shining armor is coming to save her - just as [[InstantlyProvenWrong Tony and Rhodey fly into the Nazi castle]] in PoweredArmour [[BigDamnHeroes to rescue Pepper]].

* ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'' while still dark and violent in places is nevertheless '''far''' LighterAndSofter than then rest of the DarkerAndEdgier ComicBook/UltimateMarvel books such as ''ComicBook/UltimateFantasticFour'', ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'' and ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen''. Notably while the rest of Marvel heroes (with only a few exceptions) are UpToEleven {{Jerkass}} AntiHero versions of themselves, Spider-Man conversely retains the AllLovingHero idealism of his main universe counterpart though he is regarded as a naive kid for it.

** Granted DarkerAndEdgier storylines such as ''ComicBook/XOfSwords'' and ''ComicBook/XMenTheTrialOfMagneto'' do come in later on, but regardless life has ''never'' once been so genuinely hopeful and happy for the X-Men and mutants before in Marvel history.

* ''ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge'' starting with ''ComicBook/HouseOfX'' and ''ComicBook/PowersOfX'' while dark, violent and thematically menacing and creepy in places, in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe is the biggest LighterAndSofter turn for the ComicBook/XMen ever. Compared to the previous big storylines such as ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'', ''Apocalypse: The Twelve'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''Messiah Complex'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' and ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' which killed loads of characters for shocks, had many characters pick up the ConflictBall, turn evil and generally empathised FailureIsTheOnlyOption and had near or complete genocide of mutantkind (before StatusQuoIsGod reverts everything), ''House of X'' is leaps and bounds more lighthearted. All (and we do mean '''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters ALL]]''') {{Mutants}} come together on [[GeniusLoci Krakoa]] which is now a {{Utopia}} for their kind, separate from the human world and putting their past differences aside to try and build a better outcome for their race, and thanks to the new Phoenix Five led by ComicBook/HopeSummers most mutants can be resurrected from death. Oh and Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean put their famously bitter LoveTriangle to bed, having a three-way polymerous relationship.

* ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' starting with ''House of X'' and ''Powers of X'' while dark, violent and thematically menacing and creepy in places, in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe is the biggest LighterAndSofter turn for the ComicBook/XMen ever. Compared to the previous big storylines such as ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'', ''Apocalypse: The Twelve'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''Messiah Complex'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' and ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' which killed loads of characters for shocks, had many characters pick up the ConflictBall, turn evil and generally empathised FailureIsTheOnlyOption and had near or complete genocide of mutantkind (before StatusQuoIsGod reverts everything), ''House of X'' is leaps and bounds more lighthearted. All (and we do mean '''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters ALL]]''') {{Mutants}} come together on [[GeniusLoci Krakoa]] which is now a {{Utopia}} for their kind, separate from the human world and putting their past differences aside to try and build a better outcome for their race, and thanks to the new Phoenix Five led by ComicBook/HopeSummers most mutants can be resurrected from death. Oh and Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean put their famously bitter LoveTriangle to bed, having a three-way polymerous relationship.
** Granted DarkerAndEdgier storylines such as ''X of Swords'' and ''The Trial of Magneto'' do come in later on, but regardless life has ''never'' once been so genuinely hopeful and happy for the X-Men and mutants before in Marvel history.

* ''Iron Man Noir'' by Creator/ScottSnyder is this compared to the rest of the comics in the ''ComicBook/MarvelNoir'' universe. While ''ComicBook/SpiderManNoir'', ''X-Men Noir'', ''Daredevil Noir'', ''Luke Cage Noir'' and ''Wolverine Noir'' deal out loads of AdaptationalVillainy to characters, have ThouShallNotKill characters use guns and kill people and generally have the DarkerAndEdgier-ness dialed UpToEleven; ''Iron Man Noir'' in comparison is considerably more lighthearted being tonally closer to ''Film/TheRocketeer''. Instead of being stuck in the WretchedHive that is New York like other ''Noir'' universe comics, ''Iron Man Noir'' has globe trotting adventures filled with much more optimism, though this makes the comic [[NeverTrustATitle more]] [[TwoFistedTales Pulp]] than FilmNoir. It's especially lampshaded when Baron Strucker is [[HopeCrusher deriding]] a [[DamselInDistress captured Pepper]] for clinging to the hope that Tony will save her, saying while holding the skull of Thor that "[[TemptingFate they don't live in a world of Marvels]]" and no knight in shining armor is coming to save her - just as [[InstantlyProvenWrong Tony and Rhodey fly into the Nazi castle]] in PoweredArmour [[BigDamnHeroes to rescue Pepper]].

* ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' is a Lighter And Softer continuation of ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}'' while still serious and grim in places, it has Franchise/SpiderMan, J.Jonah Jameson and other more lighthearted MU characters brightening up the previously extremely gritty and edgy journey of ComicBook/JessicaJones and ComicBook/LukeCage. Jess also gives birth to her daughter Danielle bringing more happiness into her life, most of which she's spent as a BrokenBird, not to mention Luke and Jess's love life being portrayed as far less rough as it infamously was in ''Alias''.
** Nearly all post ''Alias'' comics are this for Jess. The ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', ''ComicBook/TheDefenders2017'' and ''Jessica Jones (2018)'' while still pretty dark in places are significantly more upbeat compared what Jess has gone through in her debut series, having moved own from her trauma and taken a new lease on life.

* ''ComicBook/JonathanHickmansXMen'' starting with ''House of X'' and ''Powers of X'' while dark, violent and thematically menacing and creepy in places, in the grand scheme of the Marvel Universe is the biggest LighterAndSofter turn for the ComicBook/XMen ever. Compared to the previous big storylines such as ''ComicBook/TheDarkPhoenixSaga'', ''ComicBook/{{Onslaught}}'', ''Apocalypse: The Twelve'', ''ComicBook/HouseOfM'', ''Messiah Complex'', ''ComicBook/AvengersVsXMen'', ''ComicBook/DaysOfFuturePast'' and ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'' which killed loads of characters for shocks, had many characters pick up the ConflictBall, turn evil and generally empathised FailureIsTheOnlyOption and had near or complete genocide of mutantkind (before StatusQuoIsGod reverts everything), ''House of X'' is leaps and bounds more lighthearted. All (and do we mean '''[[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters ALL]]''') {{Mutants}} come together on [[GeniusLoci Krakoa]] which is now a {{Utopia}} for their race, separate from the human world and putting their past differences aside to try and build a better outcome for their race, and thanks to the new Phoenix Five led by ComicBook/HopeSummers most mutants can be resurrected from death. Oh and Wolverine, Cyclops and Jean put their famously bitter LoveTriangle to bed with, having a three-way polymerous relationship.
** Granted DarkerAndEdgier storylines such as ''X of Swords'' and ''The Trial of Magneto'' do come in later on, but regardless life has never once been so genuinely hopeful and happy for the X-Men and mutants before in Marvel history.

** Nearly all post ''Alias'' comics are this for Jess. The ''ComicBook/NewAvengers'', ''ComicBook/TheDefenders2017'' and ''Jessica Jones (2018)'' while still pretty dark in places are significantly more upbeat compared what Jess has gone through in her debut series and has move own from her trauma and take a new lease on life.

%%* ''ComicBook/ThePulse'' is a Lighter And Softer continuation of ''ComicBook/{{Alias}}''.

* ''ComicBook/{{X 23}}'' is typically an even DarkerAndEdgier DistaffCounterpart to ComicBook/{{Wolverine}}. When she takes up the mantle in ''ComicBook/AllNewWolverine'', however, Laura demonstrates to be highly idealistic and moral, striving not to be the killer she was created to be, and comes across as the TeamMom and [[OnlySaneMan Only Sane Woman]] in the entire Marvel universe. ThouShallNotKill are her watch words, Laura calls out Logan for being anything less than prim and proper, she pulls a WhatTheHellHero on [[ComicBook/CaptainAmerica Steve Rogers]], and generally has a GoodIsNotSoft nature.